If you’re using my book Holistic Tarot to learn tarot and if you’re anything like
me, you’re going to want to see the primary sources for yourself, so that’s why the
book comes with 31 pages of end notes where you’ll find all the works I’ve cited and
so much more.
So please do not neglect the end notes.
Now, how do you use the independent tarot study course I’ve put together.
If you want to turn your copy of Holistic Tarot and study guides I provide into a comprehensive
independent study course on tarot, then start with a tarot journal.
Get a three-ring binder for each level, so for the beginner level study guide, consolidate
all things related to the beginner level in one binder.
For the intermediate level, a second three-ring binder.
For the advanced level, a third three-ring binder.
BEGINNER:
Let’s start with the beginner study guide.
You’ll want one 3-ring binder dedicated just to this study level.
Also get a set of five-tab section dividers or create your own like I did.
We’ll be organizing the binder into five sections.
Print out the study guide along with any of the supplemental handouts that pique your
interest.
These all go under the tab “Study Guide.”
Dedicate an entire section to the Major Arcana.
This section will be entries on card meanings for all the Majors.
Dedicate an entire section to the four suits of the Minor Arcana.
This section will be entries on card meanings for all the Minors.
I recommend organizing this section in the order of suits that appear in Holistic Tarot—Wands,
Cups, Swords, and Pentacles.
Leave a bunch of loose leaf paper in this section to log your practice readings.
Date each reading, draw diagrams, note the cards you had drawn, the tarot spreads you
used, or even decks used, and record all impressions of your tarot readings.
Really, this is the how you’re going to master tarot—by actual practice of readings.
The final tab for your beginner’s binder will be print-outs or notes on anything of interest
that is tarot related that you come across during your beginner level study of tarot.
INTERMEDIATE:
Print out the intermediate study guide and keep it under the first tab of your binder.
Use the study guide to track your progress through the book, Holistic Tarot.
Print-outs for tarot spreads at the intermediate level and other tarot techniques you’re
working with should go under the second tab.
You’ll also want to keep a log of all readings you’re doing.
Date the readings and be sure to write a follow-up post impressions to validate or learn from
the forecasts you’re projecting through your tarot readings.
Organize all the reference materials you’re acquiring during your intermediate level of
tarot study and keep it in your binder.
Finally, make space for miscellaneous notes and documents that are tarot related but might
not go anywhere else in your binder.
For the binder
to keep all of your advanced tarot coursework, again, opt for the same
five tabs as the intermediate binder, but now, with entirely different content, presumably
at the advanced level.
And there you have it.
How you can organize your notes when using Holistic Tarot as the textbook for your independent
tarot studies.
If you’re using my book to learn tarot, then start with a Rider-Waite-Smith deck.
I’m not saying all beginners need to learn tarot through the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition.
But my book is keyed to the Rider-Waite-Smith, so if you’re using my book, it kind of makes
sense to go with the deck tradition that the book is based on.
I’ll cover some RWS decks that I like for beginners.
I’m loving the Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot by U.S. Games, which really is an incredible
replica of the original.
I also like the Golden Universal Tarot by Lo Scarabeo, but it does not have any card
titles, which might get confusing if you’re a novice.
The Robin Wood Tarot is another good beginner’s Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck, one with pagan
influences.
The Llewellyn Tarot has soft, subdued imagery and is considered a classic, though there
are marked differences between this deck and the original RWS card names.
For a more modern and multicultural deck that combines fantasy with digital art, check out
The Tarot Illuminati.
It’s a stunner.
Of course, most of us learned tarot on the classic yellow box Rider Waite 1971.
I would recommend any of these RWS-based tarot decks for beginners learning in the RWS tradition.
To familiarize yourself with tarot basics, learn the cards in sections.
For example, Day 1.
Study the imagery on and read the Cyclopedia entries for The Fool through the Chariot.
That, by the way, is the First Septenary of the Major Arcana.
These cards help us to make sense of ourselves.
Understanding these cards represent understanding of the Inner Self.
The First Septenary of the Majors symbolizes the path to self-discovery.
Day 2.
Do the same for Strength through Temperance.
These cards make up the Second Septenary of the Major Arcana.
They represent the interactive relationship between Man and Man, or Man and his Environment.
This is about understanding the world around you and attaining wisdom about the material
world.
Day 3.
The Devil to The World.
The final or Third Septenary of the Major Arcana represents the spiritual relationship
between Man and Divinity.
This is about understanding the divine realms.
This is the decided path for cultivating wisdom.
You could also say it’s about understanding your Higher Self.
The Third Septenary of the Majors symbolizes the path of transcendence.
As you study these cards, don’t just read about the card meanings from one source, like
Holistic Tarot.
Gather card interpretations from many sources and begin to synthesize the many facets of
the cards for yourself.
Day 4.
The suit of Wands.
And by the way, when I say Day, you could change it to Week.
Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, and now Week 4.
Or Month.
Whatever time table works with your personal schedule.
So let me just say "personal module" then.
Module 4, the suit of Wands.
Philosophically, the suit of Wands expresses the work that we do, what drives us, the vehicle
of our Will, the engine of human creativity and ingenuity.
Module 5.
The suit of Cups.
This is the suit of emotional value, what we are sentimental about.
How do we navigate relationships?
What is the parabolic quest of the Human Spirit?
Who are you, as defined by who you love?
Who are you, as defined by what you wish for?
What are the defining emotions of a situation?
Module 6.
The suit of Swords.
What fears do we seek to conquer?
What is the nature of our pain that forges the iron will for glory and achievement?
How does our own intellectual capabilities work for us and work against us?
Examine your social interactions.
This is the marketplace of ideas, of discourse, battles, wounds, victories, and Pyrrhic victories.
Then we get to Module 7.
The suit of Pentacles, or Coins.
This is personal and social economy.
How do you interact in the material realm, with your environment, the earth around you,
and the resources availed to you?
How do you turn your productivity into material gains?
This is commerce,
the marketplace of goods and services.
This is the proletariat turning productivity into a dynasty.
I’ve set out a course syllabus for you to guide you through independent study of tarot
that will get you to a level of proficiency you’re proud of.
A great way to incorporate tarot into your everyday life is to pull a card on the last
day of a month, to prognosticate the upcoming month.
So, at the end of March, I might shuffle my deck and pull a card for April.
Then, at the beginning, when I’m not yet familiar with card meanings, look up the entry
for that card in Holistic Tarot.
Supplement that research with many other sources.
There are so many incredible resources that are free online these days on card meanings.
Then write a cohesive personal impression or interpretation of what you think that card
means for your month of April.
Memorialize it in a written reading form or in notes to yourself.
At the end of April, reflect back on the events of that month and think about how that measures
up to your tarot card meaning.
You don’t have to limit it to a single tarot card.
Use any tarot spread instructed from Holistic Tarot and practice the various tarot spreads,
each time applied to reading for a month to come.
Make sure you log your notes and write up post-impressions.
So much of understanding card meanings at more nuanced or deeper levels for myself came
from the post-impressions.
It’s how you begin to form your personal bond with the cards and slowly but surely,
you won’t even need Holistic Tarot anymore.
You’ll find that you have your own, personalized set of card meanings and how you specifically
connect to your cards, what the cards of tarot mean for you when you pull them in readings.
I’ve also got a free online workshop on an offshoot topic relating to tarot, linked
below—a comparative analysis of fortune-telling and divination in tarot.
It’s free, so be sure to check it out.
Did you find the Opening of the Key or OOTK divinatory operation of interest to you?
Deep-dive into it and master the OOTK with my multi-media online course “Learning the
Opening of the Key.”
It comes with an easy-to-follow workbook on all things OOTK plus dozens of pages of handouts
to help you attain proficiency in the various metaphysical branches of study that you need
background knowledge in to work functionally with the OOTK.
While Holistic Tarot is more of a no-nonsense, grounded, and rational-based approach to tarot
reading, explore deeper realms of tarot with my course “Tarot as a Tool for Craft.”
“Tarot as a Tool for Craft” is the tarot course you take after you’ve completed the
Holistic Tarot companion course through all three study guides.
Be sure to check out all offerings I have available under “Course Offerings.”
So why tarot?
Tarot helps you to diagnose your problems.
It helps you to understand the symptoms you are experiencing and then helps you to trouble-shoot
your life.
How?
By helping you optimize your own creativity, your own intuition, and…if I may…tapping
into this incredible and potent tool that occultists of times past have created for
us.
Tarot is the legacy of Western metaphysical practitioners, a technology that the collective
body of these practitioner have left us with.
That is why a classical understanding of card meanings, working with tarot spreads and operations
used by the masters is, at the very least, an informative exercise for the budding tarot
reader.
Holistic Tarot represents one methodical approach to learning and studying tarot from the beginner
level toward achieving personal mastery.
Such an approach isn’t for everyone and it’s more important for you to find a learning
style that works for you than to force yourself to work with my book.
But if you enjoy academic rigor, perhaps because you’ve achieved a level of education to
doctorate degrees so now you’re stuck in certain ivory tower pedagogical approaches,
or you tend to be more cerebral and analytical, then Holistic Tarot is absolutely the methodical
approach to learning tarot for you.
To you, I hope this video has given you a clear sense of direction for how to work with
your copy of Holistic Tarot and starting your tarot journal, a three-ring binder.